Why Mini Habits Are Better

A new year’s resolution is overwhelming. Your mind will plot out a huge goal spanning across an entire year, with all the many milestones you will need to hit. Once your initial excitement subsides, it’s daunting.

Mini habits, on the other hand, fit into your life as it is now. As you can see in the talk above by BJ Fogg of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University, researchers have found that one of the most efficient ways to build a new habit is to stack it on top of an existing one.

A popular example of this is that if you want to make flossing your teeth a habit, then do it every time you’re answering nature’s call. Hey, you’re in the bathroom, you’re not using your hands, might as well get this little task done!

Start as small as possible. Want to get into the habit of working out every day? Just do one pushup daily. Just one. Nothing more. And then build on it. The one-pushup challenge has shown how small habits can lead to large changes.

The New York Times’ 7-minute workout app is the best app for this. It’s a web-based app that works perfectly on desktop or mobile. It’s well designed and demonstrates each exercise, along with a colorful countdown timer and an instructor that tells you what to do.

If the 7-minute workout isn’t for you, maybe you should take the Hundred Push-ups challenge, which starts you off slowly and in two months, will build you to a point where you can do 100 push-ups without stopping. Before you begin though, make sure you take the test and follow instructions.

Set a Positive Password

It might sound silly, but the password you enter daily can change your life. Mauricio Estrella found this through a simple experiment when he was going through a rough divorce. He wrote about his experiences on Medium, noting how positive passwords like “Forgive her” and “Quit Smoking” led to dramatic positive lifestyle changes.

Try something as simple as setting your alarm one minute earlier every week. So if you’re an 8 am riser and want to get to 7 am, start with 7:59 am for the first week. Then go back one more minute to 7:58 am for the second week. Make it easy on yourself, sleep in on weekends. By the end of the year, you’ll be at 7:08 am. And in another two months, you’ll be waking up at 7 am without feeling like it’s a drastic change.

Read More with “7-Page Week”

Everyone wants to make reading a habit, but we don’t seem to be able to find the time to do it. Well, here’s an easy mini habit to help you start reading more. I call it the “7-page week”.

Every Monday, read one page of a book. On Tuesday, continue and read two pages of that book. Three on Wednesday, four on Thursday, five on Friday, six on Saturday, and seven on Sunday. Then go back to just one page of the same book on Monday. Keep up this cycle till you finish the book.

Learn to Enjoy Life and Be Grateful

Complaints come easy, but being thankful is difficult. Gratitude isn’t inherent for many of us. It needs to be reflected upon, and appreciated through practice. Mindful meditation can help in learning this.

Visualize Debt Before Buying

Saving money is one of the most popular resolutions every year, but also one that most people fail at. The culprit usually is mindless spending. The simplest trick to stop that, which most personal finance experts recommend, is to look at your debt before you buy anything. Sounds simple, right? Well it is, but you have to do it religiously.

Organize One Thing Every Week

Over 18% of people list “getting organized” as their new year’s resolution. It could be tech, it could be non-tech, but just adopt the mini habit of tidying up and streamlining one thing every week. Soon you’ll have a less disruptive life.